School Report Cards

New Information, Format on State School Report Cards

The Illinois State Board of Education has rewritten the accountability system that is reported on the annual State School Report Card with the goal of creating reports that are informative, fair and non-punitive. The change comes as part of the new federal law Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaced No Child Left Behind.

The new accountability system includes multiple indicators of academic achievement and school quality. Each school will also receive one of four designations based on performance in both of those categories.

Academic achievement will be based on Language Arts and Math scores on the PARCC taken in spring 2018 in grades 3-8, and English Learners’ proficiency as tested on the ACCESS assessment. Student growth from the previous year will also be measured.

Student performance will be measured overall and for any subgroups of more than 20 students per school. Previously, subgroups were identified by 30 or more students per school. Subgroups include five major ethnic groups, economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities and English Learners.

These core academic indicators will make up 75% of each school’s overall rating.

The other 25% of the school’s overall rating will be based on school quality and student success measures. The measures include the results from state-designed “Five Essentials Survey” on school climate and culture and a school’s chronic absenteeism rate. The survey is now required to be taken annually by parents, staff and students in fourth through eighth grade. The school’s chronic absenteeism rate is calculated by the percentage of students who miss 10 percent or more of the school year with excused or unexcused absences. This will include students who travel out of the country to visit relatives but will exclude medically certified home/hospital instruction.

Finally, the two areas will be tallied for a summative designation of 1 to 4: Exemplary, Commendable, Underperforming and Lowest Performing.

Additional changes and measures are planned for next year and beyond.

District 28 uses both state-required assessments and district assessments that are nationally normed to assess academics. See more information on the district's 2018 Assessment Report by Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kris Raitzer's report.